- E. Jean Carroll rape trial: The biggest lesson is a legal consequence Donald Trump can’t escape. Slate
- E. Jean Carroll may sue Trump for defamation again after CNN town hall: What we know Yahoo News
- Trump found liable in assault case — after relying on a myth about how women should react to rape Kansas Reflector
- Trump’s rape trial was triggering. But Carroll’s victory offered a glimmer of hope The Guardian
- Sexual abuse verdict will not slow Trump’s march toward the GOP nomination | Horsey cartoon The Seattle Times
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: Carroll
The Athletic’s Mike Sando: How Russell Wilson Tried to Get Pete Carroll Fired | The Rich Eisen Show – The Rich Eisen Show
- The Athletic’s Mike Sando: How Russell Wilson Tried to Get Pete Carroll Fired | The Rich Eisen Show The Rich Eisen Show
- Russell Wilson wanted Pete Carroll out, per report; QB denies ESPN
- Russell Wilson’s first year with Broncos: ‘Too much influence,’ too few wins in disorganized disaster The Athletic
- Rich Eisen Reacts to the ‘Russell Wilson Tried to Get Pete Carroll Fired’ Story in the Athletic The Rich Eisen Show
- Experience with Aaron Rodgers influenced Nathaniel Hackett’s approach to Russell Wilson NBC Sports
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Trump Used Deposition in E. Jean Carroll Defamation Case to Boast, Complain
- Donald Trump was deposed in October 2022 in a defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll.
- During the deposition, Trump was combative and meandered in his answers to the opposing counsel.
- Trump boasted about his social media platform, threatened the counsel, and insulted Joe Biden.
Former President Donald Trump took moments to boast about his own accomplishments, complain about the country’s “broken” justice system, and insult President Joe Biden during a deposition last year.
On October 19, Trump was deposed for a defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist who has also accused the former president of sexual assault in a separate lawsuit.
An excerpt of Carroll’s and Trump’s depositions were unsealed on Friday.
The records show a combative Trump true to form: He repeatedly insulted Carroll — and at one point mischaracterized her words, claiming she said “rape was sexy” — and gave rambling answers to the opposing counsel, Roberta Kaplan.
Kaplan declined to comment for this story.
Here are some of the meandering moments from Trump’s deposition:
Unsealed Trump deposition accuses E. Jean Carroll of saying she enjoys rape
In rambling and combative testimony during an October session at Mar-a-Lago, Trump reiterated past claims he didn’t know Carroll, except as an adversary in what he termed “hoax” litigation, and said she was a “nut job” who was fabricating the story altogether.
“I know nothing about her,” he said in response to questions from Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan, according to court documents unsealed Friday. “I think she’s sick. Mentally sick.”
The former president twisted Carroll’s comments from a June 2019 interview with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, in which she said she shied away from calling her alleged encounter with Trump a “rape” because the word “has so many sexual connotations” and is a “fantasy” for many.
“I think most people think of rape as being sexy,” she told Cooper, according to a transcript of the interview, explaining that she instead thinks of her alleged attack as a “fight.”
Trump cited the interview in telling Kaplan that Carroll “loved” sexual assault.
“She actually indicated that she loved it. Okay?” Trump said in the deposition. “In fact, I think she said it was sexy, didn’t she? She said it was very sexy to be raped.”
Kaplan then asked: “So, sir, I just want to confirm: It’s your testimony that E. Jean Carroll said that she loved being sexually assaulted by you?”
And Trump answered: “Well, based on her interview with Anderson Cooper, I believe that’s what took place.”
Carroll, an author and advice columnist, publicly accused Trump in 2019 of raping her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the mid-1990s. She has a pair of pending lawsuits against him in federal court in Manhattan, the first for alleged defamation over comments by Trump in 2019 trashing her and her account, and the latter over the alleged sexual assault itself.
Trump has denied knowing Carroll at all, even though he was photographed with her and her then-husband at an event decades ago.
On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected a bid by Trump’s attorneys to dismiss Carroll’s sexual assault lawsuit, which was filed under a New York law that lets sexual assault victims sue years later.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba said she will appeal the judge’s decision not to toss out the newer case. A spokesman for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign declined further comment.
The D.C. Court of Appeals is considering whether the Justice Department can represent Trump as a federal employee, a long-running legal dispute that has been heard by various courts and could effectively put an end to the defamation claims.
Kaplan has scheduled an April trial date for both lawsuits.
Some portions of Carroll’s deposition in the defamation lawsuit were already part of the public docket. Portions of Trump’s deposition were ordered released in a separate decision Friday by Judge Kaplan, who is not related to Carroll’s attorney. That decision followed a bid by Trump’s attorneys to keep the previously redacted section sealed.
The deposition depicts a full display of Trump’s trademark bluster. He complained to Roberta Kaplan, the attorney, about having to “waste a whole day doing these ridiculous questions with you” and said he would sue both Carroll and her attorney “after this is over.”
He also insisted incorrectly that Truth Social, the social media website he launched in response to his disciplinary removal from Twitter, was more successful than mainstream sites like Twitter, TikTok and Instagram. Truth Social, whose audience has reportedly grown since its rocky launch, still has nowhere near the reach as the others apps on the market.
Kaplan asked Trump during the deposition to list times he’s labeled an event a “hoax,” which he has said about Carroll’s allegation. “The Russia Russia Russia hoax … Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine hoax,” Trump replied, apparent references to federal probes into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and Trump’s alleged meddling in the disbursement of Ukraine military funding during his term. He listed several others and said of the legal proceedings initiated by Carroll: “This is a hoax too.”
When directly asked if he’d ever sexually assaulted or touched a woman’s intimate parts without consent, his lawyer objected and Trump responded.
“Well, I will tell you no, but you may have some people like your client that lie,” Trump said.
At least 17 women have come forward with allegations that Trump physically touched them inappropriately, many of them supported by people they told at the time. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations.
During the 2016 campaign, The Washington Post obtained a 2005 recording of Trump bragging about unwanted kissing and groping on the set of the TV show “Access Hollywood.” Trump apologized for what he chalked up as “locker-room banter.”
Carroll’s lawsuits are part of a heap of legal troubles hanging over Trump as he attempts to mount his political comeback. Earlier Friday, Trump’s company was sentenced to pay a $1.6 million fine for tax crimes by two longtime executives, following a conviction at trial in December. There is still separate civil litigation brought by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, accusing the company of manipulating property values for tax benefits.
Trump is also under federal investigation for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and the mishandling of classified documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club and home. In addition, a special grand jury investigating election interference in Georgia has submitted its report, which a judge will decide whether to make public and authorities will use to decide whether to bring charges.
Since announcing his candidacy a week after the 2022 midterm election, Trump has avoided large public events, opting instead for hosting several galas at Mar-a-Lago and beaming into conferences by video. His campaign is planning a smaller-scale event in South Carolina later this month, rather than one of his signature rallies.
Trump has faced a growing chorus of criticism from Republicans blaming him for the party’s disappointing showing in the midterms, with former House speaker Paul D. Ryan chiming in with a Thursday CNN interview calling Trump a “proven loser.”
Trump’s early announcement did not result in overwhelming Republican endorsements or scare off other candidates, as a handful of other potential rivals continue making more overt moves toward launching their own campaigns. Some early surveys have showed Trump trailing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
E. Jean Carroll sues Trump under New York Adult Survivors Act
Carroll, a longtime advice columnist for Elle magazine, says Trump raped her inside a dressing room of a luxury Manhattan department store during the mid-1990s — an allegation Trump has denied.
The court filing Thursday said Carroll filed the lawsuit to “obtain redress for her injuries and to demonstrate that even a man as powerful as Trump can be held accountable under the law.”
She is suing Trump for battery and defamation and seeking compensatory and punitive damages, saying that the alleged sexual assault caused “significant pain and suffering, lasting psychological harms, loss of dignity and invasion of her privacy.”
The lawsuit was expected. Carroll said in court records filed in September, as part of her ongoing, separate defamation case against Trump, that she would file a lawsuit against the former president under the Adult Survivors Act “as soon as that statute authorizes us to do so.”
Carroll first recounted the alleged assault in a book in 2019. She was not able to press charges at the time because the statute of limitations had passed.
Trump, who has been accused of sexual assault by a slew of other women, responded to the allegations by saying Carroll was “totally lying” and that the journalist was “not my type.” Carroll then sued Trump for defamation.
In the court documents filed Thursday, Carroll claims Trump “forced her up against a dressing room wall, pinned her in place with his shoulder, and raped her.” The suit notes that, out of fear, Carroll had kept quiet about the incident for more than 20 years, before deciding it was time to speak out after the #MeToo movement galvanized survivors of sexual assault around the world to share their stories.
In a statement on the new lawsuit, Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said the writer “intends to hold Donald Trump accountable not only for defaming her, but also for sexually assaulting her, which he did years ago in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman.”
“Thanksgiving Day was the very first day Ms. Carroll could file under New York law so our complaint was filed with the court shortly after midnight.”
Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, dismissed the claims Thursday.
“While I respect and admire individuals that come forward, this case is unfortunately an abuse of the purpose of this Act which creates a terrible precedent and runs the risk of delegitimizing the credibility of actual victims,” Habba told the Associated Press.
Representatives for Carroll have sought to merge the defamation suit with Thursday’s new lawsuit under the Adult Survivors Act, though Trump’s legal team has argued the move would be prejudicial.
The Adult Survivors Act is modeled on New York’s Child Victims Act, which was signed in 2019 and offered a similar opportunity for survivors of child sexual abuse to file suits against their alleged abusers.
An avalanche of lawsuits are expected to be filed under the new law, which supporters say offers a chance for survivors to hold their attackers accountable — even if a significant period of time has lapsed since the alleged incident,
Shayna Jacobs contributed to this report.
Trump news today: Kanye West describes Mar-a-Lago shouting match as E Jean Carroll files new rape lawsuit
Kanye West releases 2024 campaign video after meeting with Trump
Disgraced rapper and anti-semite Kanye West has continued to describe his visit to Mar-a-Lago this weekend, claiming that Donald Trump shouted at him in response to a proposal that the former president join Mr West as running mate on a third-party presidential ticket in 2024.
The erratic Mr West claims to be running for president again after a sometimes disturbing quasi-campaign flamed out in 2020. He was apparently accompanied to Mr Trump’s residence by notorious far-right racist troll Nick Fuentes, whom he says “impressed” their host.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump is facing a second lawsuit from author E Jean Carroll, who accuses him of raping her in a New York department store in the 1990s.
Availing herself of a new state law that comes into effect today, Ms Carroll is suing Mr Trump for rape and sexual assault as well as defamation over recent comments he made calling her a “con job” and accusing her of lying about her allegations.
And on another front, the Justice Department is reportedly seeking to question Mike Pence as part of its ongoing investigation into January 6 and Donald Trump’s months-long effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Kanye West shares story flattering neo-Nazi Fuentes
After being seen arriving in Florida with Nick Fuentes, one of the US’s most notorious avowed white nationalists, Kanye West has claimed he brought his apparent associate to a meeting with Donald Trump – and he has now shared an article claiming Mr Fuentes may play an official role in a West ‘24 presidential campaign.
The story comes from an outlet associated with Tim Pool, a left-turned-right YouTuber with a long history of bigoted and incendiary remarks who recently appeared to blame the victims of the Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs for bringing the massacre on themselves.
Andrew Naughtie25 November 2022 13:20
Trump’s latest rant against special prosecutor
The appointment of Jack Smith as a special prosecutor to oversee two major Justice Department investigations into Donald Trump has sent the former president into a fury, as legal developments not in his favour generally do – and in his campaign to delegitimise Mr Smith, he is invoking not just well-worn subjects like the Steele dossier and Hunter Biden’s laptop, but also a strange conspiracy theory that Mr Smith is under the sway of Barack Obama and Eric Holder – who stepped down as attorney general in 2015.
Andrew Naughtie25 November 2022 12:50
Staff members at the House select committee investigating the January 6 riots at the US Capitol are reportedly angry at Liz Cheney for her push to focus on former president Donald Trump in the final report.
Ms Cheney, the Republican vice-chair of the panel, has left staffers rankled in the panel by exerting high levels of control of the investigation and the final report, members of the panel told The Washington Post, with one staffer even derisively referring to the committee as the “Cheney 2024 campaign”.
Read more about the behind-the-scenes deliberations and dynamics of the committee vowing to hold Donald Trump and the Maga movement accountable for the attack on Congress:
Andrew Naughtie25 November 2022 12:20
Next act for Sarah Palin unclear after Alaska House losses
Sarah Palin’s attempt to return to political life ended in failure this week as she lost a second election in less than 12 months to Mary Peltola, the newly-elected congresswoman for Alaska.
Now the Trump-backed former governor’s path forward is unclear, as her efforts to venture into the reality TV business went nowhere and she is no longer a fixture on right-leaning news networks.
Read more in The Independent:
Andrew Naughtie25 November 2022 11:50
Kanye West says he asked Donald Trump to be his 2024 presidential running mate
Kanye West revealed that he has asked former US president Donald Trump to be his “running mate” for the 2024 presidential elections.
In a tweet shared on Wednesday, the 45-year-old rapper said he visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for the first time and made the request during a meeting with the former president.
Mr West famously met with Mr Trump in the Oval Office during his presidency, and also at Trump Tower in New York during the 2016 election.
“What you guys think [Trump’s] response was when I asked him to be my running mate in 2024?” Ye, who ran for office in 2020, asked.
Andrew Naughtie25 November 2022 11:20
Musk says granting ‘amnesty’ to suspended Twitter accounts
Elon Musk says he will begin granting “amnesty” to banned Twitter accounts next week as his reign at the company has seen it plummet in value while content moderation has virtually evaporated.
The controversial CEO made the latest decision after it won a Twitter poll on his feed; the spur-of-the-moment announcement comes while advertisers have been fleeing the platform in droves.
John Bowden25 November 2022 10:20
MSNBC reporter launches blistering takedown of Kari Lake’s ‘Trumpism’ after Arizona governor election loss
A reporter with MSNBC ranted about all of Kari Lake’s mini scandals during a live shot after the Arizona Republican was declared the loser of the state’s gubernatorial race.
Ms Lake earned the ire of reporters by singling journalists out at press conferences for mockery while they attempted to do their jobs; she also often repeated Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.
Watch the clip below and read more from Johanna Chisholm:
John Bowden25 November 2022 09:20
Lara Trump issues dark warning to DeSantis over 2024 primary
Lara Trump has issued a dark warning to Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, saying it would be “nicer” for him to stay out of the 2024 race for the GOP presidential nomination.
Seeing Mr DeSantis as his top rival within the party, Donald Trump and his allies have attempted to keep him on the sidelines, often mentioning his 2018 endorsement of Mr DeSantis when he first ran for Florida governor.
Read more from Gustaf Kilander:
John Bowden25 November 2022 08:20
Pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell begs Elon Musk to contact him as he remains banned from Twitter
Pillow vendor and 2020 conspiracy mogul Mike Lindell publicly appealed to Elon Musk this week for his Twitter account to be reinstated.
In a broadcast as part of his “Lindell TV” programme on a right-wing streaming site, he called on Mr Musk to make contact with him and claimed that the billionaire Tesla founder was ignoring him.
Read more about his increasingly desperate antics in The Independent:
John Bowden25 November 2022 07:20
Kanye West posts video about Mar-a-Lago visit
Rapper Ye, better known as Kanye West, posted a video late Thursday evening shot after his visit with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
In the video, West described why he went to the former president’s residence with Nick Fuentes, an infamous white nationalist, whom he described as someone Mr Trump respected.
And he said that Mr Trump yelled at him, telling the rapper that his 2024 run was a mistake.
John Bowden25 November 2022 06:20
E. Jean Carroll sues Trump for battery and defamation as lookback window for adult sex abuse survivors’ suits opens in New York
CNN
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Ex-magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll sued former President Donald Trump for battery and defamation under a new New York law that allows adults alleging sexual assault to bring claims years after the attack.
Carroll filed the lawsuit Thursday, the first day that civil lawsuits can be brought under the new law, the Adult Survivors Act, which gives adults a one-year window to file a claim.
The lawsuit is the second Carroll has brought against Trump, but the first to seek to hold him accountable for battery for allegedly raping Carroll in the dressing room of a New York department store in the mid-1990s. The lawsuit also alleges a new defamation claim based on statements Trump made last month.
Carroll is asking a judge to order Trump to retract his defamatory statements and award compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
“Trump’s underlying sexual assault severely injured Carroll, causing significant pain and suffering, lasting psychological harms, loss of dignity, and invasion of her privacy. His recent defamatory statement has only added to the harm that Carroll had already suffered,” the lawsuit alleges.
At a court hearing Tuesday for the earlier lawsuit, Trump attorney Alina Habba told Judge Lewis Kaplan she had not yet been retained to represent Trump in the Adult Survivors Act lawsuit.
Kaplan noted that Trump has known this lawsuit was “coming for months and he would be well advised to decide who is representing him in it.”
In 2019, Carroll sued Trump for defamation after he denied her sexual assault allegation, said he never met Carroll, that she wasn’t his type, and that she made up the story to boost sales of her new book.
In Thursday’s lawsuit Carroll re-upped those previous statements and added a new one, from October 2022, when Trump said similar things about her as he was set to sit for a deposition related to the 2019 lawsuit.
“I don’t know this woman, have no idea who she is, other than it seems she got a picture of me many years ago, with her husband, shaking my hand on a reception line at a celebrity charity event. She completely made up a story that I met her at the doors of this crowded New York City Department Store and, within minutes, ‘swooned’ her,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
“It is a Hoax and a lie, just like all the other Hoaxes that have been played on me for the past seven years. And, while I am not supposed to say it, I will. This woman is not my type!” the post said.
Habba responding to the filing Thursday, saying, “While I respect and admire individuals that come forward, this case is unfortunately an abuse of the purpose of this Act which creates a terrible precedent running the risk of delegitimizing credibility of actual victims.”
Carroll’s 2019 defamation lawsuit against Trump has been hanging in the balance. Trump’s attorneys challenged the lawsuit saying the Justice Department should be substituted as the defendants since Trump, as president, was answering reporters’ questions about Carroll’s allegations. The Justice Department agreed.
Kaplan ruled in favor of Carroll, but Trump and the Justice Department appealed. A federal appeals court in New York ruled that Trump was a federal employee at the time but asked a Washington, DC, appeals court to determine whether the statements fell within the scope of his employment.
The DC appeals court has expedited the case and could decide early next year. If the court rules against Carroll, the case will likely be dismissed because the federal government cannot be sued for defamation.
If the 2019 case is dismissed, the defamation claims from 2022 would not be impacted since Trump was not a federal employee last month when he made the new statements.
Carroll’s lawyers previously asked Kaplan to combine the 2019 and 2022 action into one trial early next year. The judge said he would weigh in next week.
Pete Carroll praises Geno Smith for wearing a wristband, says “there was resistance” before
The Seahawks’ offense has been far more effective than anyone expected with Geno Smith running the show this season, and coach Pete Carroll says one of the reasons is Smith’s willingness to take a different approach to play calling.
Carroll said on Seattle Sports 710 AM that Smith wears a wristband with plays on it to make it easy for offensive coordinator Shane Waldron to quickly send in a play over the speakers in Smith’s helmet and for Smith to call the corresponding play from his wristband to the rest of the offense. Carroll said he thinks that’s a more efficient method of signaling in plays to the quarterback, but the Seahawks hadn’t done it in the past.
“If you notice, Geno’s going off the wristband, and that’s a big help,” Carroll said. “It’s smoothed things out, sped things up, cleaned things up. And that’s part of it, too. We never did that before. There was resistance to that, so we didn’t do that before.”
Carroll didn’t say who that “resistance” was coming from, but he didn’t have to: Carroll was obviously implying that Russell Wilson didn’t like calling plays off the wristband, and so the Seahawks didn’t do it.
Carroll also said Smith and Waldron have developed a good rapport with Smith trusting Waldron’s play calling.
“When Shane says something to Geno, he’s not doubting it. He’s just going with it, so there’s a real immediate flow and that accelerates all the process,” Carroll said.
Again, Carroll didn’t mention Wilson in saying that, but he didn’t have to.
A year ago, there was a widespread perception that the Seahawks were holding Wilson back. Now that the Seahawks are thriving without Wilson, while the Broncos are struggling with Wilson, perceptions have changed. Carroll is making it clear that he loves having a quarterback like Smith, who’s buying into what the coaches want to do.
Trump appears for deposition in E. Jean Carroll lawsuit
CNN
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Former President Donald Trump appeared Wednesday for a deposition as part of the defamation lawsuit brought by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.
Last week, a federal judge cleared the way for Trump’s testimony saying the former President had already taken steps to delay the case and he “should not be able to run out the clock.”
“We’re pleased that on behalf of our client, E. Jean Carroll, we were able to take Donald Trump’s deposition today. We are not able to comment further,” said a spokesperson for Kaplan Hecker & Fink, the law firm representing Carroll.
Lawyers for Trump have not responded to a request for comment.
It is not clear what Trump said during the deposition, which was taken at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Carroll sued Trump in 2019 for defamation after he denied her claim that he raped her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. She was scheduled to sit for her deposition last Friday.
The legal stakes for Trump were recently raised when Carroll said she intends to sue him next month under a new New York State law that allows victims of sexual assault to sue years after the attack. His testimony in the defamation case could be used in a future lawsuit.
The defamation case has been in legal limbo for over a year.
Trump and the Justice Department argued Trump was a federal employee and his statements denying Carroll’s allegations were made in response to reporters’ questions while he was at the White House. They argued the Justice Department should be substituted as the defendant, which, because the government cannot be sued for defamation, would end the lawsuit.
Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled against Trump and DOJ. They appealed. Last month a federal appeals court in New York ruled that Trump was a federal employee when he denied Carroll’s claim of rape and sexual assault.
However, the federal appeals court asked the Washington, DC, appeals court to determine if Trump was acting within the scope of his employment when he made the allegedly defamatory statements. If the DC court finds in favor of Trump, then the Justice Department would likely be substituted as a defendant and the case dismissed. The DC appeals court has not yet taken up the matter and it is unclear if or when they will.
This year Trump was ordered by a New York State judge to sit for a deposition with the New York attorney general’s office. Trump refused to answer questions, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Last month the New York attorney general’s office filed a $250 million lawsuit against Trump, his eldest children and the Trump Organization for allegedly defrauding lenders and insurers through false financial statements. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and said the lawsuit was politically motivated.
In civil cases if someone declines to answer questions the jury is allowed to apply an adverse inference against the person when deciding their potential liability.
Last year Trump sat for a deposition for a civil lawsuit brought by protestors who claimed they were injured outside of Trump Tower during his first presidential campaign. He is also expected to testify in another civil lawsuit relating to a marketing campaign by the end of the month.
This story has been updated with additional details.
E. Jean Carroll: In boost to Trump, appeals court opens door to DOJ shielding him in defamation lawsuit
CNN
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A federal appeals court on Tuesday opened the door to allowing the Justice Department to shield former President Donald Trump for his conduct while president in a defamation lawsuit brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll.
That question – if Trump can be held personally responsible in Carroll’s defamation case – will now be sent to an appeals court in Washington, DC.
The Justice Department, under both the Trump and Biden administrations, is siding with Trump in arguing that the US government should be substituted for Trump as a defendant, a move that would have the effect of forcing the defamation case’s dismissal.
“Under the circumstances, we cannot say what the District would do in this case,” the appeals court wrote on Tuesday. “Under the laws of the District, were the allegedly libelous public statements made, during his term in office, by the President of the United States, denying allegations of misconduct, with regards to events prior to that term of office, within the scope of his employment as President of the United States?”
The 2-1 decision from the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals reverses a trial-court finding that Trump couldn’t be shielded by the Justice Department in the defamation case.
Trump attorney Alina Habba praised the ruling in a statement: “We are extremely pleased with the Second Circuit’s decision today in reversing and vacating the District Court’s finding in this matter. This decision will protect the ability of all future Presidents to effectively govern without hindrance. We are confident that the D.C. Court of Appeals will find that our client was acting within the scope of his employment when properly repudiating Ms. Carroll’s allegations.”
Carroll sued Trump in 2019 alleging he defamed her when he denied her allegations that Trump raped her in a New York department store dressing room in the mid 1990s and went on to say “she’s not my type” and accused her of making the allegation to boost sales of her book. Trump denies all allegations.
The Justice Department first indicated it wanted to defend Trump in the case in September 2020, when he was still occupying the White House. The department has argued that it must take over because Trump’s comments spurring the defamation lawsuit came while he was in office.
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan pointed to the dissenting opinion written by Judge Denny Chin, in which Chin said that Trump should not be deemed immune from the lawsuit and that his conduct fell outside the scope of his duties as president.
“We are confident that the D.C. Court of Appeals, where this case is now headed on certification, will agree,” Kaplan said in statement.
In the dissent, Chin wrote: “Carroll’s allegations plausibly paint a picture of a man pursuing a personal vendetta against an accuser.”
Carroll plans to sue Trump under a new New York statute that allows victims of sexual assault to sue years after the encounter, her attorneys said in a court filing last week.
The New York Adult Survivors Act allows adult survivors to bring claims that would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations. Carroll will allege battery and intentional infliction of emotion distress in the suit, her lawyers told the judge.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to argue he should have immunity for the time when he was President. The federal court of appeals in DC, the D.C. Circuit, now has in front of it a separate major case testing the absolute immunity of Trump while he was president. The other case, a lawsuit seeking to hold Trump liable for conspiracy around January 6, will test whether the presidency shields him. It is not yet scheduled for oral arguments.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to note the case will be sent to the DC Court of Appeals.